KNOWING THE CITY, South African urban scholarship from apartheid to democracy

498pp., illus., paperback, Pietermaritzburg, 2024

Contributors include Richard Ballard, Leslie Bank, Mercy Brown-Luthango, Nazira Cachalia, Sarah Charlton, Shari Daya, Phil Harrison, Gareth Haysom, Marie Huchzermeyer, Alan Mabin, Brij Maharaj, Jeff McCarthy, Noëleen Murray, Nobukhosi Ngwenya, Noor Nieftagodien, Francis Nyamnjoh, Zarina Patel, Edgar Pieterse, Suraya Scheba, Dianne Scott, Jeremy Seekings, Rike Sitas, Caroline Skinner, Andrew Tucker, Ivan Turok, Gustav Visser, Alex Wafer, Vanessa Watson, Leslie Witz, Nomkhosi Xulu-Gama, amongst others.

"This volume provides valuable insights into urban scholarship's transformative role and evolution in examining and exploring South African's urban landscape. It traverses diverse theoretical perspectives, themes and spatial contexts in response to rapidly changing socio-political environments. This is a critical contribution that offers a reflective and engaging understanding of the urban geographies of knowledge conceptualisation and problematisation, which are relevant globally." Urmilla Bob, School of Agriculture, Earth and Environmental Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Sophie Oldfield is Chair and Professor of the Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University, and a Professor in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town. Her most recent book is High Stakes, High Hopes: Urban theorizing in partnership (2023).

Anna Selmeczi is Senior Lecturer at the African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town. She is co-editor (with shine choi and Erzsébet Strausz) of Critical Methods for the Study of World Politics: Creativity and transformation (2020).

Clive Barnett (1966–2021) was Professor of Geography and Social Theory at the University of Exeter. His most recent book is The Priority of Injustice: Locating Democracy in Critical Theory (2017).